(Medical Xpress)—Myelin is an electrically insulating layer, or sheath, made of protein and fatty molecules, and synthesized by cholesterol-rich oligodendrocytes, that forms around neurons and allows electrical impulses ...

A drug that could halt the progression of multiple sclerosis may soon be developed thanks to a discovery by a team at the CHUM Research Centre and the University of Montreal. The researchers have identified a molecule called ...

Evidence has long suggested multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease, but researchers have been puzzled because they found the same T cells that attack the myelin sheathing around nerve cells in MS patients are present ...

(Medical Xpress)—Biogen Idec Inc has released preliminary results of a phase II clinical trial (called RENEW) meant to test the effectiveness of using an anti-LINGO-1 drug called BIIB033, to treat eye damage that occurs ...

New research shows that disrupting the molecular function of a tumor suppressor causes improper formation of a protective insulating sheath on peripheral nerves – leading to neuropathy and muscle wasting in mice similar ...

Unclogging the body's protein disposal system may improve memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a study from scientists at Kyungpook National University in Korea published in The Journal of Experimental ...

The brain is a wonderfully flexible and adaptive learning tool. For decades, researchers have known that this flexibility, called plasticity, comes from selective strengthening of well-used synapses—the connections between ...

Several forms of leukodystrophies, genetic degenerative disorders that affect the myelin, are associated with vacuolization of myelin sheaths that enwrap axons of central neurons. Megalencephalic leukoencephalopathy (MLC), ...

Using the surface forces apparatus and an atomic force microscope, researchers at UC Santa Barbara have taken a molecular approach to myelin membrane interactions, leading to insights into demyelinating diseases, such as ...